


The Raven’s Blessing

by theoneswhohavefallen



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, post-Eleventh Hour but pre-Suffering Game, the Raven Queen is Kravitz’s mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 00:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoneswhohavefallen/pseuds/theoneswhohavefallen
Summary: The Raven Queen finds out about what (or who) has been distracting her most important employee.





	The Raven’s Blessing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missnowhereteen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missnowhereteen/gifts).



> Originally posted to Wattpad, edited for posting here. (My work, don’t worry.)
> 
> For a friend. <3

In this dark office, floating in the endless and eternal aether of the Astral Plane, even the clocks stood totally still.

There was no breeze that stirred the long, black curtains, no sound at all except for the Newton cradle desk toy that _click_ - _clack_ -ed softly in the stillness.

The toy was seated on the right-hand corner of a black mahogany desk—it was almost the only thing on the remarkably bare surface, except for a nearly foot-tall stack of dark manila file folders on the left side of the desk with a plaque marked, "IN." A plaque without a pile of folders marked "OUT" mirrored it on the right side of the desk, just behind the oscillating toy. Commanding the center of the desk were a pair of dark-skinned hands that rested impatiently on top of an opened folder.

Those impatient hands were connected to a normally very patient woman. A beautiful woman, with a complexion the same color as a night sky, wearing a neat grey suit, with piercing golden eyes and short hair braided across her scalp.

She glanced at the clocks out of pure habit, knowing they would say 'midnight' as they always did. And then she glanced at the windows, though she knew what awaited her there, as well—nothing outside the windows but an ocean of soft white luminescent fog. The rest of the office wasn't much to look at, but she did it anyway. Dark blue carpet, dark brown wood-paneled walls that were left completely unadorned. No door, either, though that was mostly for her own convenience.

No one came in unless she wanted them in. And no one left until she gave the order. She always found things were just simpler that way.

Still, that precaution didn't prevent people from being late.

Just as she thought this, a rift opened up in the space in front of her desk. She straightened, focusing her gaze on the rift with a stern expression, and watched as a man stepped out of the tear in spacetime, looking remarkably flustered.

"I'm sorry, my lady," the man began, nearly stammering. He reached up and tugged on the lapel of his charcoal suit, centering the jacket on his chest, then ran a hand nervously through his dark hair. "I was—er..."

"Late," the woman said pointedly, fixing him with a stern glare that froze him in place for a moment before he assumed a respectful straightened stance.

"My apologies," he said, bowing slightly, still looking slightly nervous—eyes still glued to the floor—but now much more composed. 

This was certainly more like him. Punctual, respectful, neat... but as of the last few weeks, he'd been replaced by a consistently tardy, nervous mess. Always glancing around like he was hiding something, disappearing off to nowhere when he wasn't on the job...

It was strange. And it warranted a serious discussion. The Raven Queen ran a tight ship, and he was her best employee, her most impressive bounty hunter, her Grim Reaper. If something was wrong with him, the balance of nature itself could be upset, and drastically so.

She steepled her hands atop the desk. "Kravitz." 

His name echoed through the room, making him flinch slightly.

"Are you well?"

He looked up at her in surprise, and found concern etched onto her face—not reproachment, or anger, but genuine concern. He hesitated, and the concern deepened, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I've... never been better, actually," Kravitz admitted, after the moment of confusion passed.

The Raven Queen sat up straight in her seat. "Is that true?"

"Yes, my lady."

She fixed him with a curious look. "Are you unhappy with your job?"

"Not at all!" Kravitz assured her, looking shocked at the accusation. "Like I said—I'm quite happy. With everything."

The Raven Queen stood up suddenly from her seat, pacing back and forth behind her desk, across from a slightly helpless-looking Kravitz.

"Is there something you want from me, Kravitz? You claim that you're happy, and yet for the last few weeks you've been disappearing off to nowhere—constantly late, leaving jobs as soon as you can, to vanish somewhere _I_ _can't_ _see_ _you!_ ”

Kravitz flinched. "I can explain—"

"Please do," she snapped, frustrated.

"I've been..." he hesitated. "If you're... curious, as to... where I've gone, I've been spending a lot of time in the moon base belonging to the Bureau of Balance."

The Raven Queen stopped pacing, and turned to him with an accusatory stare. "Why in the heavens are you going there? They've nothing to do with us."

"It's—not a business arrangement. In fact, it's the exact opposite. I've been... seeing someone... who happens to be an agent of the Bureau. For some time now. And I admit, it's the reason I've been spending so much time away," Kravitz explained, looking slightly embarrassed. As he did, the Raven Queen's frustration melted away, leaving her simply watching him carefully over the desk as he spoke, gold-ringed eyes piercing his own.

There was silence.

The Raven Queen settled back down in her seat and folded her hands once more.

"I have to say, Kravitz... that is not the explanation I was expecting," she sighed. "Thank goodness."

He stared. "You—you're not... upset, my lady?"

She gave him a smile. "I'm very pleased, actually. I told you years ago I thought you needed to get out more."

A thin blush darkened his cheeks.

"I was concerned that you were ill, or worse. You see, I can't have my Grim Reaper slacking on the job."

Kravitz looked suddenly nervous. "...I understand. I assure you, it won't happen again, my lady—"

"Oh, don't be nervous," the Raven Queen waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not going to tell you to stop seeing your boyfriend, Kravitz. Don't be silly. Just try to be a bit more careful about showing up on time. I'm not worried—I know you, and you are a responsible man. You always have been."

Kravitz relaxed, the tension building in his shoulders vanishing. "Thank you, my lady."

She opened her mouth to say something else at the same moment a dark red folder near the top of the "IN" pile suddenly flipped open of its own accord, and the papers inside lit up.

The Raven Queen sighed and pulled the file in front of her, examining the brightly lit papers as though the intense glow didn't bother her at all, though even from a few feet away, Kravitz winced away from the painfully bright light.

"I have a new bounty for you, in Neverwinter," she closed the file, light still spilling from the sides, and handed it over to the "OUT" side of her desk, where the a rift opened in space and swallowed the file. "The information's already in your book..." the Raven Queen looked up thoughtfully. "I'll let you know if there's an emergency, but I think otherwise, once you taka care of this bounty, you can take the rest of today off."

"Of course, my lady," Kravitz bowed. “Thank you.”

He slashed his scythe across the air, opening a gate through which the Raven Queen could see flashes of the familiar cobbled streets of Neverwinter, and vanished inside of it.

Once he was gone, the Raven Queen snapped her fingers, and a black telephone appeared on her desk. She tapped a number in expertly and lifted the phone to her ear, spinning around in her chair absently.

“Do me a favor,” she said when the line connected. "Have we ever had a bounty on anyone who works for that Voidfish woman? No? Send me the reports from the Reapers' last few missions, then. Oh, and find me the coordinates of the Bureau's moon base." She hung up the phone, and after a few moments, another rift opened up, this time over the "IN" pile, dropping three dark red folders on top of the others. The Raven Queen pulled them down and leafed through them, tossing two of them to the side after a very short look, and opening the final one on her desk. She looked through this one carefully, ignoring the several black folders that dropped in and added themselves to the pile as she did.

After a short time looking through the red file, the Raven Queen picked up the phone again.

"Clear my schedule for this afternoon, Charon," she said. "I have someone to visit."

——————————————————————————————————————————

The job in Neverwinter ran late, of course.

Kravitz cursed his bad luck even as he finally managed to corner the escaped soul and take it back to the Eternal Stockade, promising Charon he would fill out the paperwork tomorrow because he had to run tonight.

Even with that, it was already eight thirty-three when Kravitz managed to get himself to the moon base—more than a half hour late for his date with Taako.

I guess I'm getting chewed out by two people today, Kravitz thought as he stepped through the portal he'd opened into the living room of Taako, Merle, and Magnus's apartment. He braced himself for either one of them throwing something at him when he appeared (It had happened before. He hoped it was Merle, because last time he scared Magnus, he'd almost gotten beaned by a chair) but there were no projectiles awaiting him in the room.

Instead, there was a sight that shook him down to his very core.

There was a small, hastily prepared banquet sitting on the coffee table—tea, cucumber sandwiches, pastries, et cetera. And sitting on the couch, lounging, laughing, and enjoying the food, were Taako... and the Raven Queen.

He was at top form, looking like the perfect host—talking animatedly as the Raven Queen, a grey-suited goddess, sat on the other side of the couch, nodding along to whatever story Taako was telling.

"...I swear, darling, there's only one thing I was thinking, and it was: 'what in the Nine Hells am I doing here?’. You know what I mean? It's unbelievable, really—" Taako caught sight of Kravitz out of the corner of his eye and turned his head, surprised. "Oh, hey, babe."

Kravitz just stared, eyes flicking back and forth between his boss and his boyfriend.

The Raven Queen gave Kravitz a knowing smile, winked, and vanished. The teacup she had been holding in her right hand fell, but before it could crash and spill tea against the couch cushions, Taako spun a gesture with one finger and it froze in mid-air.

"Nice talking to you," Taako told the empty space on the couch as he levitated the teacup over to the table and set it down on a coaster without spilling a drop. He turned back to Kravitz and set down his own cup of tea.

"Your boss is pretty chill," Taako remarked, in a voice far too casual for someone who has literally just had a conversation with death.

Though, honestly, Kravitz wasn't sure he should be surprised. Tea with the goddess of death wasn't that far of a step up from a wine-and-pottery date with the grim reaper.

"I mean, she was a little icy at first, but hey, most people I meet try to kill me at some point so that's a vast improvement over the norm. Nice hair, too. And, of course, great taste in clothes. Want some macarons?" Taako gestured to a plate sitting on he table in front of him, piled high with multicolored pastries. "It's not my best work—I had to whip 'em up quick, but I had to make them. First impressions are everything, and I had to make a good impression on my boyfriend's goddess."

Kravitz just stared at Taako, lips parted in a question—a million questions—that he couldn't find the breath to ask.

"Wanna sit, cowboy? You look like you're about to keel over," Taako tapped the cushion next to him, where the Raven Queen had been sitting just a moment earlier. Kravitz sat down, and a chill passed through him. The cushions were still cold, even to him.

"Why did—how did you—" Kravitz stammered through a few more interrogatives before he settled on, "What just happened?"

"The ol' R.Q. and I had a chat. About you, mostly, to be honest... all good things, though, I promise," Taako flashed a dazzling smile. "Nice lady. Thinks very highly of you. As she should."

"Did she come here to talk about me?" Kravitz's mind was running wild with possibilities. Was it possible she didn't approve? She didn't seem upset this morning—quite the opposite, in fact. And Taako seemed pleased. How did she find Taako, anyway?

"I dunno," Taako pursed his lips. "I mean, probably. She mostly asked questions about me. What I do, how I met you. Stuff like that. She was damn serious at first—wanted to be sure I understood your job, and what you did, and blah blah blah."

Kravitz felt his face heat up.

"I think she likes me, though, 'cause we ended up just talking about you for a while." Taako noticed the blush creeping onto Kravitz's face and grinned. "You embarrassed? It's cool, I promise. I didn't tell her anything _incriminating_." He poked Kravitz's chest.

Kravitz shook off the mortification and managed to regain enough cognitive function to ask a question.

"No, it's fine, I'm... _fine_. I just... I don't understand."

"Understand what, babe?" Taako popped a macaron into his mouth.

"You were... _fine_ sitting down to talk to the goddess of death?" Kravitz asked. "There's usually a lot of mental hurdles people have to overcome, just kinda being in her presence. And you were just... cool?"

Taako shrugged. "Not the first goddess I've talked to. Probably not the last, if things keep going the way they are." He reached over to the table and picked up another macaron, munching it absently as he continued explaining, "At least this time I had a chance to sit down. Last time, the world was exploding in slow motion and we were all about to die. Not exactly optimal time for meaningful conversation."

"I don't understand."

"You said that already."

"I... know."

Taako giggled. "Okay, then. What's not to get? Your goddess came 'cause she was worried about your well-being or something and decided I was chill enough to date you. I'm kinda flattered to be honest—I've never had to go through that kind of an _interview_ process before."

"I just...” Kravitz sighed. “Taako, you have to understand—the Raven Queen is a goddess of death. She is... one of the great deities of our realm. She is the boundary between life and death, and she decided to come here and talk to _my_ boyfriend?" He could feel frustration and confusion rising in him, and he saw his hands begin to flicker, tuning from flesh to bone.

Taako shrugged, nonplussed. "I'm a personality. Maybe she couldn't resist."

"I know you are. It's just... it's not like she's my—" Kravitz's voice cracked, and his shoulders slumped. His hands returned to normal, and he found himself staring at them as Taako reached over and placed his hand on top of them.

"...mother?" Taako finished the sentence gently.

Kravitz felt tears well up in his eyes. "I mean, she is my goddess... I suppose... she _is_ the closest thing I have..."

"Well, isn't this nice, right?" Taako soothed. "She cares enough to make sure you're in good hands." He squeezed Kravitz's hand gently and smiled. "I hope I convinced her, though, 'cause I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hands off you, even if death herself comes to my door and tells me to let you go."

Kravitz chuckled, looking up at Taako with a slightly rueful smile. "You never do take 'no' for an answer."

"What can I say? I'm a persuasive guy—"

Kravitz didn't bother letting Taako finish his sentence before he pressed him into the back of the couch with a kiss.

The fabric of Taako's hat crumpled against the cushions, but Taako didn't bother reaching up to fix it. He'd missed Kravitz—and times like this this more than made up for him being late to a few dates.


End file.
